Medical developments make it possible to obtain a variety of medical data from one drop of blood. The one drop of blood is sampled using a puncture device called a lancet. The puncture device may have various shapes. One exemplary puncture device is disclosed in JP 2010-148694.
The puncture device disclosed in JP 2010-A-148694 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 22 hereof.
The puncture device designated at 100 includes a blood collection needle 101 having a pointed tip 104. The needle 101 has portions other than the tip which are encapsulated by a holder portion 102 of the device 100. The tip 104 of the needle 101 is encapsulated by a cap portion 105 of the device 100. The device 100 includes a neck portion 103 interconnecting the holder portion 102 and the cap portion 105. The holder portion 102, the neck portion 103 and the cap portion 105 are integral with one another. The needle 101 is made of metal. The holder portion 102, the neck portion 103 and the cap portion 105 are made from resin.
The puncture device 100 is manufactured by insert molding. More specifically, molten resin is injected into a cavity of a mold with the needle 101 set in the cavity, such that the needle 101 is encapsulated by the holder portion 102, the neck portion 103 and the cap portion 105.
The cap portion 105 covers the pointed tip 104 to ensure safe distribution of the device 100 before the device 100 is used. The cap portion 105 is twisted off breaking the neck portion 103 to expose the tip 104 of the needle 101 for use.
The needle 101 remains embedded in the resin with the tip 104 invisible until the cap portion 105 is twisted off. It is thus not possible to visually confirm whether the tip 104 is appropriately disposed pointing toward the cap portion 105. It is difficult to visually confirm whether the needle 101 exists in the resin.
To address those problems, manufactures employ an X-ray inspection to see through a completed product. This X-ray inspection has been prevalent in the art. The X-ray inspection is performed using an X-ray inspection device as taught in JP-A-2005-31069.
However, the X-ray inspection device is expensive and can be appropriately handled only by radiologists. This would result in increasing the inspection cost.
The needle 101 has such a small outer diameter, 0.3 mm to 0.5 mm that an additional device such as a magnifier is required to confirm orientation of the tip 104 of the needle 101. This also causes increase in the inspection cost.
There is a demand for a technique enabling an inspection cheaper than the X-ray inspection.